SPY-themed Party Ideas & Freebie#4

Last December was my daughter's 18th birthday. She wanted a Spy theme with travel and casino motifs. Now how hard can that be! Lol. After knockin' my brains out for ideas, the following were some of what I came up with, with the help of my family of course, particularly my ever loving and supportive hubby.
Since a spy go for different disguises, I hired a make-up artist, fashion stylist and photographer for her photoshoot, 3 weeks before the event. Her fashion stylist came up with 5 different wardrobe changes. I used her different looks for the invitation, backdrops and souvenir tags with the colors-black, red and white.
THE INVITATION
I tri-fold a faux leather design black board paper, attached the ends with double back tape with the exception of the top portion. This serves as an envelope with only a strip of black board paper as the flap cover. To keep the flap closed, I printed small red question marks on a sticker paper, glued crystal gem on the dots and used a circle puncher for the shape. I also printed on a sticker paper the TOP SECRET label and attached it on the front. Wasn't able to get the site where I downloaded the label but here's one for a reference.

When the flap cover is opened, a James Bond eye logo will be revealed. I replaced the image of James Bond with a picture of my daughter.

Upon pulling up the card with the logo, the entire inside portion is revealed which contains the party details. I used 18 different images of my daughter, including the one with James Bond logo as background for the card. The images, except the logo, were printed with 40% opacity in black and white. Instead of using the usual invitation terms, I replaced them with spy terms such as mission, identity and disguise. The CODE features different spy movies and serves as guide for the table seating. As soon as the guests come in, they have to say the code to the usher and they will be seated accordingly.

THE WELCOME BANNER

The Welcome Banner featured one of her spy looks. This was placed at the entrance of the venue. The size is about 5.5 feet tall and supported by a gold frame.

THE BACKDROPS & PROPS

Four of the different wardrobe changes during the photoshoot were used as backdrops for the venue. The size is about  5 x 3 feet printed on a tarpaulin in black and white and supported by a wooden frame at the back. 

 These were placed on the recessed wall on both sides of the stage.

Life-sized spy men and women silhouette standees also served as props for the venue. I placed 2 at the hall entrance, 1 at the Bar (vaguely seen inside mirror) and 2 on the stairs.

TABLE DECOR

For the table decor, I downloaded 15 different spy movies, printed them and laminated for the 15 tables accomodation. I have large sizes of playing cards that I've been keeping for a while and I thought of using them as table place cards by arranging them like a fan together with the laminated spy movies. Here are 2 examples of them:

THE CAKE

Her cake was a Casino Playing Card inspired. Also in the picture is the backdrop for the stage which is a James Bond logo with her at the center of the eye.

The mini cakes were lighted by 18 of her friends as they each reveal an "identity"(characteristics of Athena as they know her) and their wishes for her. From her 18 godmothers, godfathers, aunts and family friends, they each gave her 18 gadgets. 

SOUVENIRS AND GIVE-AWAYS

For the guests, we gave away mini fondant "Dice" cakes baked by my loving sistah. They were placed in a square box and decorated with a ribbon and a tag. The cake box is from a local cake supplies store. 

I made a Thank You tag using different pictures of my daughter printed in black and white with red border. I attached this on a shaped black board paper using my favorite Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page Cherish set.

Gave away also lipstick pens for the ladies and Secret Decoder Pens for the guys which I bought from The Spy Museum Store in US.

And here's another freebie for you:

A Glam Rock Theme Party

My goddaughter Kira, celebrated her 18th birthday last October and the party's theme is "glamrock" with an explosion. Her nickname is Kira Boom, hence the theme explosion. She requested for a ticket stub for her invitation. I made some digital stars, arranged them like waves and decorated with silver glitters. This is what I came up with :
                                                                     Front of the card

The Inside Part with the inserts: 18 Fashionistas, 18 K's (18,000 in currency), 18 Bombs(revelations) & 18 Shots (Wine toast). I decorated the outside pocket with metal & gem studs for the rock appeal.

I also made star tags for the mini bomb cake give-aways. My sister Barbie made the big bomb cake and the mini bomb cupcakes for the event using teal as the theme color because it's Kira's favorite color.
                                                            Here's the Big Bomb Cake:

 

Here are the mini bomb cupcake giveaways with the ribbons and star tags:

                                                   Here's the star of the show on stage:

                                            Her cute dog also all glammed-up for the night:

I also made an "explosion box" with a gift card holder in the middle as my gift for her. But instead of a gift card, I inserted money because I'm one of the 18 K's listed on the invitation inserts. My card's theme is travel because the gift money she'll be receiving will be used for a trip to Australia.  I got the idea from Scrap & Stamp Arts Magazine-March 2010 Issue found on pages 24-27.

                      The surprise on her face when she opened my gift! I'm glad she loved it.

Double Celebration Card

A double celebration card is always a challenge for us cardmakers. How to incorporate two events in one invitation got my creative juices working when a former schoolmate of mine, Oyin, asked me if I could design for him an invitation for her daughter's birthday and a housewarming party for their new home in Singapore. After much thinking and sketching, I finally settled for a tri-fold card with a sort of French door aperture on the front. For the faux glass, I glued an acetate at the back of the door so one could see a view of the inside. I thought what better way to welcome guests but a door.

On the second fold, I used a Stamping Bella image holding a glass wine as the birthday girl. I also used a Pink Petticoat image of a chandelier with beads and crystal gems to give the room an elegant feel along with the comfy sofa.

On the 3rd fold or the middle fold are the details of the event. I used Pink Petticoat papers as the background for all the pages of the invitation- damask and stripes.

Christening Invitation

My brother Raldy and sister-in-law, Cherell, celebrated the Christening of their son last April. As a gift to them, I made the invitations for the special event. I came up with a simple design using a feeding bottle as window aperture and damask paper from Pink Petticoat as the background for the front of the card.

Inside are the details of the event (final details were not given yet when I photographed this) and image of my nephew.

Winnie the Pooh & Friends Invitation

A friend, Jen, who saw the Mickey Mouse invitation has a son who's turning one also. She was looking for a Winnie the Pooh hunny pot (honey jar) invitation which she is planning as the theme for her son's birthday. She can't find one and as soon as she saw what I did for the Mickey Mouse invitation, she requested for a design that would fit the theme she has in mind. I designed a honey jar shaped card as the main pocket for the invitation.

Inserted inside are the details of the party. Using Disney clip art images again I put together Winnie the Pooh, her friends and Jen's son on top of the page.

And here's the final outcome of the card.

Mickey Mouse Invitation

I love making invitations for family and friends especially if they want a particular design to go with the theme's party and can't find one that exactly suit their preferences. One request from my cousin-in-law, Sweet, was a Mickey Mouse invitation for her son's 1st birthday with the shape of Mickey's head. Using my circle cutter, I designed the card with one big circle for the face and 2 smaller ones for the ears.

The design was a bit tricky on the inside. I made a pop-up insert which includes my nephew's face along with Mickey and friends. I had to ask the help of my daughter, Athena for the digital techniques using Photoshop. Using clip art images of Disney babies and a photo of my nephew, we were able to put them all together. I could say we were able to come up with a good design because Sweet and Allan were satisfied with the end result. So here's my Mickey Mouse Invitation: